ICH and ‘Frugal Innovation’: a Contribution to Development through the Framework of the 2003 Convention

This paper endeavours to emphasise one particular vector ofsustainable development from intangible cultural heritage:‘frugal innovations’. It discusses the potential of ICH to generatefrugal innovations, contributing to improving communities’quality of life and enhancing the safeguarding of intangiblecultural heritage. A type of innovation constrained by limitedresources, frugal innovation means the development ofprocesses, products or services reduced to core functionalitieswith optimised performance levels, addressing the needs of thebottom of the pyramid market. When implemented at communitylevel, it aims to create a novel solution from the scarce resourcesavailable to respond to the needs of the communities concerned.This paper presents two case studies - the Indian Mitticool, andthe Australian WALFA project - to illustrate the transformation ofspecific traditional knowledge into frugal innovations, and theirimpact on their respective communities. The analysis will buildon the conceptual framework proposed by Soni and Krishnan(2014) that defines the dimensions of frugal innovation in termsof mindset, process and product. This paper then analysesthe institutional framework provided by the 2003 Convention,especially its Chapter VI on ‘Sustainable Development’, tolegitimise and leverage ICH-related frugal innovations, as wellas to ensure that this transformation is fair and collectivelybeneficial.